Girls Need Their Privacy, Ichigo
by SomeRandomMuggle
Summary: After Orihime falls on him naked, Ichigo is forced to reevaluate his thoughts on his clumsy, yet very beautiful classmate. Will he eventually realize she's actually in love with him? Ichigo/Orihime and some eventual Renji/Rukia. Very lime-ish.
1. The Incident

**Warnings: **Sexual humor, descriptive nudity, and a very... ahem... uncomfortable Ichigo. No lemons. Some lime-ish content. WILDLY OCC. Some slight Ichi/Ruki (not really, but thought I should warn first)

8888

Ichigo hated it when Rukia always made him wait in the mornings. Lately, the shinigami living in his closet was taking longer in getting dressed and because of that he was stuck making excuses for getting late for school and supposedly leaving breakfast half-eaten on his desk. At the rate things were going, his family was going to discover their surprise guest in no time.

_What could be taking her so freaking long?, _After impatiently sitting on the edge of his bed for half an hour, well it was actually fifteen minutes but he exagerated the time to later annoy Rukia with it, he stood up angrily and walked towards the conspicously silent closet and slammed it open already wearing his trademark scowl.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS-?" his words were cut off as his eyes nearly shot out of their sockets at what was exactly taking place inside the closet. Now he finally understood why Rukia was taking so long.

Apparently, she had been trying to hurry with her clothes and had attempted to put the half buttoned school blouse on and only managed to get it stuck, covering her head and holding her arms uncomfortably upright with bundled up cloth. His wide unblinking eyes could only see her pale small breasts with dark rosy tips, a tiny short waist and from how her legs were sprawled... tiny bunny-print underwear under her school skirt.

"Ichigo...," venom dripped from her dark tone, "You _better _not be staring at me like an idiot with the _closet door wide open!" _one of her legs with a knee-high white sock suddenly kicked blindly at him, nearly nailing him in the crotch.

Yelping in terror at how close he had been to being sterilized, he leapt back and slid the sliding door back in place with a hard swack.

Still in shock, he stared dumbly at the closed door, his whole body rigid. He didn't even know how to react to what he'd seen. Sure Rukia had been living with him for a while now, but it was the first time he'd ever seen her so... _naked. _He had never even thought of Rukia as a girl before. Yes, he knew she was a girl, but due to how comfortable he was around her, that had never been an issue in their friendship.

_Rukia... breasts...bunny panties..., _The more he thought about it, the more horrified he felt. He knew that it would take him awhile to get over seeing his best friend that way.

_What am I supposed to say to her?, _He trembled at how he'd have to really apologize for bursting in like that. He rarely ever apologized to Rukia, but this time he _had _to. Eyeing her like that when she had been blinded by her shirt made him feel almost disgusted with himself.

Blinking repeatedly to snap himself out of his frozen stated didn't seem to help because whenever his lids lowered, he'd just recall her small nipples pebbling in the cold he'd let in by opening the closet in the first place.

"I'm such a pervert!" he hissed, closing his eyes tightly, still suffering from the image of a nearly nude Rukia replaying constantly in his aching head.

"_That _you are," the door slid open and a very annoyed and red-faced Rukia stepped out.

The moment he dared to open his eyes, his blushes from earlier instantly disappeared at her expression. No, he couldn't help _blanching _in ball-shrinking terror. If looks could kill, Rukia would have over-killed him already from the furious firery blaze in her eyes.

"I'm sorry!" he squeaked as Rukia's eyes narrowed dangerously on his face that for some reason twitched wildly. He'd had no idea someone's face could have so many muscles until that moment. It felt as if his face had become jello in embarassent. His eyebrows twitching, his lips, everything in his entire face _trembled _under the ferocity of her stare.

"If you tell anyone about this, I _will _kill you."

"I'm really so-"

"Pretend it never happened," she cut him off with a hard tone, her face becoming redder than before. Probably as unnerved as he was, she walked stiffly past him to leave the room through his bedroom window, leaving him dumbly staring at the spot in which she once stood.

"Okay!" his wimpy agreeing answer was a little late because he was still frozen stiff like a dumbass over the strange exchange between them. Rukia was probably already near the school gates already.

_How can I forget about that? I'll probably think about it all freaking day!_

8888

His damned head kept messing with him. For the remainder of the day he'd hadn't been able to look at Rukia straight in the face without remembering her with her shirt over her head and her breasts... Man, he was really becoming a pervert.

However, Rukia seemed to have gotten over it pretty fast, though from time to time her eyes would have an evil murderous glint whenever she glanced at him.

_I should knock next time! I keep forgetting to knock but how the heck was I supposed to know she was nearly naked? And why in the world was she wearing bunny underwear? That's so... _weird.

To be honest, the thought made him cringe and almost sobered him up. He would have expected someone like Rukia to wear something a bit more conservative under...

_What the hell? Now I'm thinking panty designs? What the fuck is wrong with me?_

Thankfully, as soon as they'd gotten home she had sent him on Hollow patrol. They sometimes took turns and perhaps because she wanted to kill him for simply breathing ever since the events earlier that day, she had ordered him to do it when he had already done it the night before. It was obvious that though she hid it well, she was still embarassed with the whole situation.

Running over buildings and rooftops was almost therapeutic for him. It was easy to forget what had transpired that morning and for a brief moment, he'd forgotten about small high breasts and childish panties. It wasn't that he found Rukia unattractive, but being used to seeing her _dressed _could have never prepared him for such an eyefull.

Not like he'd ever expected to see her undressed.

His reiatsu sensing skills were close to zero, but sometimes going by instinct helped him weed out Hollows were any could be found. Right now, with his mind cleared, he could feel a small nearly undectectable negative energy coming from somewhere below him.

_Wait...! Isn't that Inoue's house?, _

The Hollow reiatsu was nothing to shout about, but noting how most of lights in Orihime's apartment were turned off, it wouldn't hurt for him to check to make sure the creature hadn't somehow sniffed out his classmate's spirit energy and wanted to have a taste of it.

_She's probably asleep... It's still a bit early for that though...,_ Telling himself that he would only go inside to see if the Hollow was inside her apartment to then search for it in the other apartments, he landed on her porch. From the glass-sliding door in front of him, he could see that the house looked vacant. Barely a sound came from inside.

_That can't be good. Inoue is not the type to stay out late at night. Tatsuki would have told me if she was staying the night..._

Not liking the thought of his friend being out at night or, should he say, being attacked when she was asleep, he relaxed his spirit body enough to walk through the glass.

Once inside of what he guessed was Orihime's dark living room, he sighed in relief at hearing her shower running from the bathroom next to her small kitchen.

That's _why the lights were out! She's probably getting ready for bed._

Feeling stupid for overreacting, he turned around to leave...

_"AHHHHH!" _a pained female scream pierced the night and him, always ready for action, didn't think twice before rushing to her bathroom.

8888

Orihime was blinded with a heavy wad of shampoo that had fallen over her eyes. The burning was so awful that all she could do was sputter at the shower water still raining down on her face. It always happened to her. Sometimes when chopping onions, she would get some of the acid from them into her eyes as well. Tatsuki even teased her about it, saying that she needed to wear goggles for everything.

"AHHHHH!" helplessly scrubbing her eyes under the harsh spray of water, the pain wouldn't go away.

A loud crash and curse startled her as some cool air from her living room entered the bathroom.

_"INOUE!"_

Her heart nearly stopped beating at the familiarity of that voice.

_Oh no! Please don't tell me that's Kurosaki-kun! I'm in the shower! I'd die if he sees me!_

Terrified of having her crush seeing her naked and in the _shower _of all places, she grabbed the shower curtain, only meaning to poke her head out to kindly tell him to leave until she finished, however, destiny and _gravity _had different plans in store for her.

The instant she grabbed her curtain, her foot slipped on the bottom of the tub and she clumsily fell out, dragging the curtain and shower rod down with her.

"KUROSAKI-KUN!" she shrieked in her descent, her eyes still closed in pain from the shampoo blinding her. The front of her body hit something solid that made an 'oomph' sound. Her face turned to the bright color of scarlet at the fact that right between her breasts she could feel the clear features of a startled male face and some spiky hairs stickling her wet skin.

Shamed by nearly suffocating Ichigo with her naked chest, she tried to push away only to realize that _both _of them were falling. Ichigo's hands, obviously trying to help preserve some of her dignity, grabbed for her waist and slipped because of some of the soap still clinging to her skin. From the accidental movement, his desperate hands only landed and latched unto her rear, which in turn made all blood rush to her face in mortification.

They both landed heavily on the floor, with her in top of him, his now gripping hands still on the firm roundness of her behind and her breasts still cushioning his gaping...

_How can I ever face him again after this?_

8888

Ichigo really wished that the floor of Orihime's apartment could swallow him alive. First he had seen Rukia naked and now... _This _was ten times worse than what had happened that morning at his house. The wet nude body of his innocent classmate and comrade was lying on _top _of him. He could smell strawberry-scented bodywash emanating from the soft firmness of her breasts that were currently pressed against his cheeks. His open mouth was practically on the skin between those two large tempting globes.

_What the fuck was I thinking? And did I just say _tempting_?_

"I'm so so sorry, Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime wiggled uncomfortably above him, making his flushed face feel her breasts rubbing against him. He could have sworn that he was going to die in that instant! As she lifted her upper body off his face, his trembling eyes saw how _perfect_ both of her breasts were. He had seen some hentai before and he wasn't all that ignorant, but seeing such sizeable firm _glistening _breasts with pale rosy nipples was frightening to him for a variety of reasons.

One, he couldn't _stop _staring at them now that he'd gotten quite a good look at them. Two, she was his very innocent childish _friend_ so viewing her as a sexually attractive _anything _was wrong in a million ways_. _And three, which was the most frightening one of all of his reasons...

His hakamas were begining to get a little _tight _at the sight of her gorgeous chest so close to him.

"Um... Kurosaki-kun," his eyes, as big as saucers now, focused on her red face as she struggled to open her squinty eyes to look at him, "could you let go of my...?"

He gaped at realizing what she meant.

His fingers were comfortably digging into the firm curvy flesh of her _ass._

_I will castrate myself after this! I will go to the nearest temple and donate all the money goat-chin had saved up for my college education-!, _Immediately letting go of her, he battled between helping her get off from him or letting himself lay there while staring foolishly at her like he'd never seen a naked girl before.

Since they were half-way out of her tiny bathroom, Orihime's soapy knees slipped on the tile as she tried to crawl off him. That shapely young nude body blanketed him with a girlish yelp and apology. What made it even more uncomfortable was that the soft welcome mound between her thighs actually bumped the erection he was so scared of having discovered.

_This is torture!, _Now really needing to get the girl off him as soon as possible, he grabbed her sleek shoulders and gently pushed her to side. Unfortunately, since his perverse eyes couldn't stop staring at her, this evasive action only made he see _more_ of her.

The long toned waist, the gentle curves of her hips, her long shapely legs and then his eyes moved to a certain spot...

"Ah! I should die!" he yelled, gripping his hair, tearing his eyes away from the area he shouldn't have thought to look at to stare at the ceiling.

"I didn't hurt you, did I? I know that I'm pretty heavy and I fell on you kind of hard! Did I hurt you face when I...?" abruptly sitting up, Orihime's lids fluttered and he could see one pained concerned bloodshot eye looking at him. Sadly, having her sitting up only drew attention to more of her assets. He knew that Orihime was the prettiest girl in school and he had never thought of her any differently for it, yet now, seeing her completely bare made him realize that the girl was just too perfect to be real.

And there he was... some other kid from school, laying on the floor of her house with her beautiful naked...

_I need to leave! I need to leave right now!, _His mind might not like it, but his body did. A specific _degenerate _part of his male anatomy was definitely eager to keep looking at her and maybe do more to her. The thing in his hakamas kept jerking happily at the idea of it. He was surprised he didn't hear the _thing _whispering to him, "Do it already! She won't mind! Neither will we!"

"D-Don't worry about it, Inoue! I'm gonna' go now! See you at school tomorrow!" desperate enough as it was, he jumped to his feet and spun around, intent in running back to the clinic as if the girl had a disease.

_No... Seeing Inoue naked is much worse than Rukia! A million times worse! Why can't this thing go down already?, _Nearly in tears of pain at the unwanted erection, he ran off cowardly into the night, leaving a very confused and embarassed Orihime staring after him.

8888

"Are you _sure _you're not sick?" Rukia asked Ichigo suspiciously as they headed to their class the following morning.

"Yeah! Why do you keep asking that?" Ichigo glared at her before entering the classroom before her to take his seat.

_Hmmm... Curiouser and curiouser..., _Frowning at how her friend's attitude had changed over the last couple of hours, she walked further into the classroom and took her own seat next to his.

She had every reason to be concerned.

The day before, Ichigo hadn't been able to look at her, yet that morning, after he had spent nearly all night in the bathroom, he had been 'cured'. He was actually acting as if nothing had happened and greeted her like he normally did, with his ornery attitude and smart-mouth.

_What the heck happened last night...?, _Thinking that her friend may have gotten a brain transplant or switched with another boy, she narrowed her eyes on him.

"Orihime-chan!" Ichigo straightened so quickly in his seat that one of his knees hit the bottom of his desk loud enough to silence the entire chattering class.

_Oh... Now I get it..., _Noting how his face had become so red it was nearly violet and following his nervous gaze towards a brightly blushing Orihime that was pounced on by an overzealous female classmate, Rukia smiled knowingly.

_This idiot will never learn will he?, _Coughing behind her hand, she wasn't surprised to see that his wide eyes were still glued on the girl across the classroom. He didn't so much as look at her when she leaned close to him to give him a word of advice that may keep him out of trouble in the future.

"Learn how to knock. Girls need their privacy, Ichigo."

"Huh?" seeing the dumb confused look in his face when he finally glanced at her, she couldn't help rolling her eyes as she sat back on her seat.

"Nevermind."

8888

**A/N: **Just like I don't particularly favor Ichi/Ruki, I don't favor Ichi/Hime either... but since I have an EVIL MUSE that pm's me with crazy ideas, and this took control of me. Yes it did! A friend pointed out some pretty obvious things that we folks tend to overlook.

Merely based on how Ichigo reacted to seeing Yoruichi naked and that one little scene in which Rangiku kinda' tried to tempt him with her charms... I thought, "Well... Ichigo gets unusually flustured around CERTAIN types of women (well-developed curvy types). So if ORIHIME were to be in a certain situation similar to those, how would he react to it, being a shy 'curious' teenager?"

Let's face it Orihime has the kind of body to get someone like Ichigo a little uncomfortable if the situation calls for it. Sorry to Ichi/Ruki fans that may be reading this, but this is the conclusion me and some friends have realized. Orihime, if it weren't for her shyness, would definitely make Ichigo want to take a peek.

Please remember to leave a REVIEW!

And YES THIS WILL BE CONTINUED


	2. That Misunderstood Pervert

**Chapter 1**

**Warnings: **Ichi-perverted thoughts, some 'accidental flashing' and Ichi-mental abuse. OCC

8888

No matter how hard he tried not to look at her, Ichigo kept having his big wary eyes falling on Orihime that was just as nervous as he was. It had been happening nearly all morning. As soon as his shy classmate had sat down in her seat beside the window, he had continued to shoot her involuntary sideways glances. From how she kept shifting awkwardly in her seat with a reddened face, she was fully aware of his unwanted attention.

Everytime she so much as moved, his eyes would catch her in the act and would stare.

A snort rung out from beside him and already knowing who that snort belonged to, his wide stunned eyes narrowed in a glare towards Rukia who was doing a poor job in hiding her laughter; judging by her blushy strained face. The girl looked almost painfully constipated for keeping her laughter down.

"I can _hear _your snickering, Rukia," he gritted lowly through his teeth, one of his brows twitching when she gave him an amused look in response.

"If you keep staring at her like that, you'll turn her to stone...!" he stiffened as another loud snort escaped through her tightly pressed lips.

_Why did she figure it out? Of all freaking people in this school, Rukia is the last person that should know about this! She hasn't stopped laughing at me since class started!_

"For your information I'm _not _a pervert," he felt the need to inform his friend of that at least.

"Oh yeah? You could have fooled me! And I didn't call you that! You've just admitted that you _are _one!" unable to hold it any longer, he flinched as Rukia gave out a rather loud bark of laughter that interrupted their teacher's drone-like lesson.

"Kuchiki! Pay attention!"

As if a bucket of ice water had been thrown on her, Rukia straightened in her seat and had a perfectly placed mask of calmness that made Ichigo inwardly seethe. That was one of her habits that always bugged him. How many times had she smacked or punched him angrily only to become solemn and business-like a split second later? The girl seriously had to have a switch somewhere to be able to change moods like that. He didn't know what she could be up to next just because of that 'trait', if he could call that a trait at all.

Nervous at the thought that Orihime may have found out at least bits and pieces of their conversation due to how loud Rukia had gotten, he dared to sneak another look at her and felt his heart skip at beat when he realized that she was actually staring back at _him._

_Oh, crap...!, _There was no anger in her face. What he saw in her expression was some regret and sadness that he hadn't expected to see. The rose-tinge on her cheeks had dulled and her usually bright eyes had dimmed. He had never seen her look so melancholic before.

_She's ashamed., _Feeling guilty because he hadn't made it any easier for her with his obvious gawking, he forced a slight apologetic smile that did worse damage than he had anticipated.

Her eyes flared as if just getting caught at doing something she wasn't supposed to and she did an awkward action that he knew wasn't in her. It was probably done unconsciously but he understood _why _she did it when he was staring at her.

One of her small hands reached up for the buttons of her school blazer and squeezed while hunching her shoulders forward, as her eyes quickly looked away. It was like she was trying to _conceal _her chest. The way her back bent, nearly hiding her full breasts from _his _view...

That was a swift kick in the gut for him to see, because it just made it clear that she was uncomfortable around him. Perhaps she thought he was some degenerate and wanted to protect the very thing his face had been pressed against the night before.

_Damn it! How can I tell her that it's no big deal when I can't stop freaking her out?_

Practically hating himself for making her anxious, he clenched his jaw and tore his eyes from her to stare straight ahead. He knew what he had to do. Apologizing to Rukia for bursting in on her had been a lot easier than he'd thought, but now with Orihime, a person to whom he had apologized plenty of times in the past without a problem, saying a simple 'sorry' just didn't seem like enough.

He had known the girl for years already and everyone that knew her, was aware that the girl was sometimes too naive and clean-minded. He still remembered when sexual education had started in middle-school. Even back then she had been fidgety at the things mentioned in that particular class, especially when Tatsuki had teased her about making babies with a guy she'd had a crush on at the time.

_I'll apologize, put this behind me and won't ever, not in a million years, let her know what I did all night thinking about...,_ Just recalling the embarassing late night 'chore' he had undertaken the night before after fleeing her apartment still made his face sting. Of all people... Doing that after seeing _Orihime? _The girl would get so disgusted by him that even as kind hearted as she was, there would be no way she'd forgive him for being so sick.

_Yes! Apologize and act natural! No harm will come out of this! I saw her naked! It's not the end of the world, right? Yoruichi never had a problem strutting around naked..._

Still twitching at even imagining Orihime's apalled expression at her finding out what he'd been thinking the exact moment he left her, he continued to think up good ways to push the incident aside to make it easier to forget.

So far... He was failing.

8888

_I really hate the guys in this school! Why do they always do this shit to Orihime-chan?, _Tatsuki stood outside of the girl's showering room with a scowl on her face while waiting for Orihime to finish washing off the remnants of one of the adoring 'attacks' from some of her male fans.

At least three times a week, some idiot would take a dare from his buddies to get Orihime's school blouse wet. It had been happening for far too long and what made it a bigger pain in the ass for her, was that Orihime was oblivious to the reason why the perverted morons did that to her instead of other girls. The sick bastards knew that what they did to her was wrong and still did it, even if Tatsuki always ended up with her hands dirty due o defending Orihime's honor.

Two days earlier, a guy from _another _school had visited someone in their school... Even _him, _that had only seen Orihime that day, managed to 'accidently' throw his whole bottle of water on her chest. Today, it was a _freshman _that had spilled grape soda on her...

_I keep telling her that the next time someone does this to her, she should punch them! I taught her how to defend herself and she just lets them do it to her!_

She had to face the facts. Orihime was not _malicious _enough to avenge herself in those situations. Most of them time, she blamed herself because of her natural clumsyness, but if was about time for her to realize that all of those conveniently spilled drinks were happening too often. Tatsuki had already told her why the guys continued it...

_At least this little asshole did it right before gym class so Orihime-chan won't have to make any excuses... Sensei is starting to complain about her getting late to class because of this._

Crossing her arms and leaning her back against the closed door of the shower room, she stood her guard. The last thing she needed, or should she say, the last _straw, _would be that one of those degenerates took to trying to sneak peeks at her friend while bathing. She could have gone inside, but she wasn't taking any chances of _that _happening. Nearly three fourths of the school's male population was composed of hormonal dumbasses and Orihime was too damned nice to call them out on it and set them straight.

It was either that, or Orihime didn't understand how her looks affected the 'dense teenaged boy breed'. Tatsuki, as well as a few other people, was fully aware of how her friend viewed herself. Orihime, despite her appearance, never played the part of a femme fatale. In fact, Orihime was probably one of those rare complex girls that looked beautiful on the outside, while on the inside she was filled with doubts and blindness towards her looks. She never used any of it to her advantage or looked down on other people because of their defects. What her friend had was a childish naivety that made nearly everyone in their group want to overprotect her.

Tatsuki for one, was trying to break that cycle by being blunt _without _hurting her feelings. Unfortunately, all of her hardwork only earned some confusion and even giggles from her nervously stunned friend whenever she stated things as directly as possible.

_Then there's that crush she has on Ichigo... How long have I told her that its about time to confess to him? He won't know unless she says something since he's too much of an idiot to see all of the hints she drops. Ichigo needs to have things _shoved _in his face in order to see them..._

Oh, if only she knew that Ichigo had _something _shoved in his face the night before...

"What the hell are you doing here, Ichigo?" she muttered the question without looking at him, because she had sensed him coming down the hallway.

"How did you-?" his question halted when she gave him a wry look that spoke volumes. Ichigo still didn't realize that his presence was very hard to miss. In some occasions she couldn't sense an ounce of his reiatsu, while in others it was a miracle that the walls of their school didn't cave in under the pressure of his untapped spirit energy.

_If he wants to sneak up on people, he's going to have to learn how to hide that better than he is now. _

"Nevermind how I know, just tell me what you want," not in the mood for vagueness, especially after she had gone through the chore of punching a starry eyed freshman for his 'grape soda surprise' fifteen minutes earlier, she narrowed her eyes on her childhood friend. Ichigo, normally, wouldn't be caught dead in that section of their school. He usually was already outside doing warm-ups for gym.

"Ah...," he began, scratching the back of his head as one of her brows arched in suspicion when what _looked _like an embarassed blush tainted his cheeks. Out of everyone she knew, Ichigo was the worst 'blusher' she'd ever laid eyes on. No one could become as red as he did. She used to tease him because of it saying that he did indeed look like an 'Ichigo' whenever he was embarassed. However, it was so rare to see him so brilliantly colorful... Being slightly flushed in anger was normal for him, but red as if the skin on his face was boiling...? No. That was definitely not normal.

"What. Do. You. Want?" she ground out through her teeth, not liking how he was acting. It was obvious that he was there for _something._

"I asked some guys were Inoue was and they told me she was here," it was evident that just saying he was there looking for their friend was difficult for him.

"Well then you'll have to wait until she's outside with the rest of the class."

That was meant as a dismissal. She _knew _that she had practically told him off and he s_till _stood there with his scorching cheeks and his hands awkwardly shoved in his gym short's pockets.

"Why are you still here?" she asked edgily. From the looks of it, Ichigo appeared as if he were frozen on the spot waiting for a firing squad.

"I...," he opened and closed his mouth, for some reason his unblinking eyes glued to the closed metal door behind her.

_What the fuck has gotten into him? And what's with that dumb dopey look on his face?_

Annoyed with his strange attitude, she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.

"You have _ten seconds _to get the fuck out of my face and go outside to play some baseball-"

"Actually we're playing basketball today...," he trailed off stupidly when she opened her eyes to give him a furious glower.

"I don't care if you guys are playing street hockey or some other dumb game, just get the hell out of here and stop looking at the door like you want to run in there!"

"But I really have to talk to-"

"When she's naked you're not!"

As if her words were a detonator of some kind, he immediately clamped his mouth closed and quickly spun around to walk away.

"What the fuck is his problem all of the sudden?" she asked herself, watching him as he speedily left her to peacefully keep guarding Orihime's bathing. Everything in Ichigo's body language had screamed anxiety. The tense shoulders with a slight tremble, the evasive eyes, the twitchiness in his features...

_I'm going to have to ask Orihime-chan about this. Ichigo wouldn't be acting like this over nothing._

8888

Orihime felt as if something had changed between her and Ichigo and whatever that something was did nothing but harm. He had barely looked at her during half of their classes, though in the morning she had felt his eyes on her more than once. The few times she had tried to talk to him during lunch, he had either ignored her or flinched as if someone had shouted at him.

_He's disgusted by me. I know he is!, _That thought was what mellowed her usually happy demeanor during most of the day. Everyone had noticed her backwards change, especially Tatsuki, but due to wanting to preserve some of Ichigo's dignity, she'd kept quiet about the accident at her house.

It _had _been an accident, but that didn't keep her from blaming herself for it. If only she hadn't tried to poke her head out... If only she had some rubber flooring in her bathtub to keep from slipping... If only she had gotten some _goggles..._

She could have prevented it from happening if she had taken all the necessary precautions. Besides that, what had happened the night before may have destroyed all of her chances with Ichigo, if she had ever had any. She knew that her body wasn't exactly awe-inspiring. Maybe that was why he was revolted by her in the first place. Having a part of her body, mostly the part she tried to draw the less attention to, pressed _naked _to Ichigo's face would make _any _guy not want to look at her ever again. Some of her female classmates always spoke about how revolting her chest was and that it was vulgar; like the size of her chest stereotyped her into a category she was nothing like.

Did Ichigo think the same way they did? She hoped not! He was one of few guys that treated her nicely, other than Sado and Ishida. Well all guys treated her politely, at least until Tatsuki started telling her that some of them may have 'hidden motives' for being so nice towards her.

Sometimes, even if she meant well with 'informing' her, Tatsuki could make her very paranoid.

After their final class had ended, she thought that the best thing to do was to go the nearest store to buy a rubber mat for her bathroom, a newer sturdier shower rod and some water goggles. She didn't want a repeat of her newest clumsy catastrophe. What had happened was still spinning in her head mostly because the boy she was secretly in love with had not only witnessed it, but had become a very active part of it.

Even if she had been blinded by her shampoo, she had seen Ichigo's obvious sickened expression when he had pushed her off him...

_How can I tell him about my feelings if he doesn't... _like _me _that _way?, _The thought of Ichigo even finding her attractive made blood rush to her cheeks. She knew it was too much to ask him for...

So far the only thing that could save her from further humiliation at this point was to _never _tell him. His attitude towards her said that he didn't think of her in an amorous way.

To him she'll always be another one of his friends.

After coming to that revelation, breathing at all seemed to hurt her chest. It was like her heart was empty.

_Remember! Rubber mat, shower rod, goggles! And there's a horror movie marathon! Yup! Can't miss that!, _She wanted to fill her head with other things things in order to make it sting less.

Sadly, the pain still remained as she slowly walked across the school's courtyard on her way to the gates that led outside. She wasn't going to forget him that easily.

"Inoue! Wait up!" the sound of _that _voice immediately stopped her snail-like pace, and the hollowness she'd had forming her chest seemed to have instantly disappeared.

_Kurosaki-kun is _talking _to me again?, _Too shocked to turn around to greet him, she stayed still and waited for him to catch up to her. Hearing his running feet nearing her, she shivered because of how suddenly _full _her once aching chest felt. Whenever she was around him she felt that way. Light, safe and nearly hopeless. She never knew what to say to him whenever he spoke to her. It was like she was robbed of all coherent words when he merely looked at her.

_What am I going to say to him?, _Nervous at having him talking to her when she was unprepared she wrung her hands, her eyes looking down at the ground. She'll think of something, depending on what he wanted to talk about...

Her eyes widened.

_Don't tell me he wants to talk about...!_

"Good thing you're still here! I was looking everywhere for you!" she jumped at hearing his breathless voice speaking right in front of her.

"Oh," she mentally kicked herself for not thinking of a better response. She felt even more awkward around him. Nearly her whole body stung with shame because he was probably standing there feeling more self-confidence than she was at that moment. Now, she was feeling so e_xposed._

"I... I wanted to talk to you about last night...," a very slight crack entered his tone.

Confused by that awkward sound, she frowned and looked up and gasped in shock.

Ichigo was so crimson he looked _sick._

"Are you okay, Kurosaki-kun?" forgetting her embarassment because it was quickly replaced with concern, she rapidly pulled her nervously wringing hands behind her back so he wouldn't see how anxious she truly was.

"Yeah!" his voice squeaked so strangely that her brows shot up as he coughed loudly behind his hand to clear his voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay," after coughing a couple of more times, his voice was definitely back to normal, though the vivid blush to his face and neck was still deeply worrying her.

_What if I hit him a little _too _hard?, _She bit her lower lip worriedly. She had heard of some people showing symtoms to hard blows _hours _after they'd happened, so if she had truly hurt Ichigo, like with a concussion, or split blood vessel, then he was probably in dire need of a hospital.

"I think you need to get your skull scanned!" she blurted out without really thinking. She didn't want Ichigo to be in pain because of one of her 'accidents'.

"Get my skull scanned?" he asked slowly.

"Yeah! I hit you so hard that I might have hurt your head-"

"Wait! _What?" _she quickly bit the inside of her cheek because she knew that she had just made a fool out of herself. Ichigo looked even annoyed with her suggestion.

"Sorry," she mumbled looking down at the ground, wishing she could take her outburst back.

A long silence passed between them and that silence only increased her anxiety. The hands she hid behind her were starting to get clammy.

"You don't have to apologize for anything, Inoue... I'm the only one that has to say sorry," somehow hearing the normalcy in his voice gave her enough confidence to look at him again.

"You want to apologize to me?" she asked a bit surprised, "But it was my fault that I fell on you like that! If I had been more careful-!"

"Don't, Inoue," he was starting to look annoyed with her again as he ran his hand through his spiky bright locks. She always liked his hair. It was far lighter than hers and matched his eyes...

Blushing at realizing that she was getting numbed by his presence like she always did, she just gave a nod to his words even if it meant she was accepting his misplaced apology. She _knew _deep down that it was her fault no matter what he said about it.

"Don't blame yourself. I can tell you are."

"I'm not blaming myself!" she said a bit too quickly without looking at him.

"Yes you are. I shouldn't have gone into your bathroom like that. In fact, I shouldn't have even gone into your apartment in the first place, but when I thought you were hurt...," he expelled an agitated breath. She didn't know if he was actually mad at himself rather than her for everything. "I just had to make sure you were alright."

_That's the Kurosaki-kun I know._

"Its... its okay," she finally said meeting his eyes, feeling a bit better at having him clear things up.

_His face is still so _red_ though! Is he telling me the truth?, _She narrowed her eyes as she studied him while he stared back at her dumbfounded.

"You didn't _hurt _me, Inoue," the corner of his lips twitched.

"I still think you need to get scanned."

A chuckle left him as he shook his head at her stubborness.

That brief sound warmed her. It was so rare to hear him laugh about anything and even though she was pretty embarassed, she was happy about at least wringing a smile out of him, however short-lived it was.

"Still friends?" that tentatively asked question brought her back like a crash landing.

It took her a while to answer, because she knew that it was his way of cleaning the slate of what had happened. It should have made her happy, but 'friends'? The word friend coming from him almost stung her, though she loved being someone he considered as a friend. It was better than nothing...

"Yes. Still friends," she gave him a bright smile, though her heart, like always, was silently breaking.

8888

_That went well... I _think., Ichigo thought to himself as he saw Orihime walking away. Apologizing to her had come naturally to him and though he meant it because scaring her didn't bode well with him, he felt as if he'd _lied _to her. Why would he feel that way?

He was truly sorry for invading her privacy and making her go through such a shameful situation. Any girl would be scared of a guy she had accidently landed on while naked. He shouldn't have ever seen her naked at all. Orihime wasn't the kind of girl a guy should take advantage of. She was too sweet to be trampled on in that manner. That was what had made him feel so dirty during most of the day whenever she was around him. In a way, he_ had _been taking advantage of her, though she hadn't known it.

How it annoyed him that she blamed herself for it.

_Why would she think I'm need a get my skull...?, _Now _that_ had confused him. Everyone had been giving him strange looks throughout the day and he still didn't know why. Did he look like he was sick? Even _Rukia _had laid off him which was strange to him.

_Maybe I _should _go get checked just in case..., _Thinking that, he still didn't remove his eyes from her shapely retreating figure. While he had been talking to her, he hadn't been able to keep himself from studying her closely and if he didn't know any better, that had definitely added on to her already present nervousness.

He knew what she looked like. He wasn't _that _stupid. It was just that he couldn't keep himself from doing it more _carefully _this time. For all he knew, he had done it just to read her better...

_That's a load of bullshit., _He winced at the voice of his conscious telling him that flatly.

He had been studying her for a _different _reason. He used to think that her hair was orange like his at a simple glance and now he knew it was actually ginger colored, shades darker than his own. The shape of her large eyes gave her a soft innocent appearance that suited her... She also had gently rounded features with smooth creamy skin...

_Perfect... This is fucking _perfect_! I apologize for going inside her house uninvited and ogling her and now I'm memorizing her face? What is it with me? Do I like _mind-fucking _myself?_

Irritated at how he botched his own plan on putting it all behind him, he made a move to turn around to go back inside to retrieve his backpack that had been left behind in his haste to catch up with Orihime when a deceptive _evil _wind decided to breeze through the courtyard.

His eyes nearly bled when the back of Orihime's short school skirt rose up in almost slow motion showing him the last thing he needed to see...

Her perfectly rounded rear.

_DAMN IT!, _His jaw dropped as the girl hurriedly clamped down the back of her skirt and sped up her pace to leave the school, apparently too embarassed to linger any longer. He didn't know Orihime could walk so fast! She probably thought he was long gone already, but he was still there standing like an idiot with his face as pale as a ghost's and his jaw nearly unhinged in gaping.

_I'm being punished for something, aren't I?, _His haunted saucer-like eyes followed her as she power-walked her way out of the school, her unusual colored hair practically flying behind her.

Swallowing dryly at what his perverted eyes had inadvertedly caught sight of, he forced himself to turn around. He didn't bother trying to block out that image from his mind this time because it would be pointless. He had tried before and it hadn't worked.

_At least she doesn't wear bunny panties..., _He grimaced the moment he stepped back into the school.

No. Her panties had actually been quite demure with a white background and no garish cartoonish furry animals decorating them...

_She seems to like strawberries a lot._

Still flinching at thinking that because her underwear _did _indeed have something that looked like bright red strawberries in their design, he inwardly whimpered at the very uncomfortable _stiff _walk he would have to take back to his now empty classroom.

8888

**A/N: **WHY DO I ENJOY TORTURING ICHIGO SO MUCH? I'm addicted to embarassing him in stories. It isn't the first time I've made him go through very strange stuff that makes him freak out. And yes, count on this fic continuing, because I really liked the cute/sexy concept. And man, Orihime sure loves them strawberries! Happy late X-mas to you all! And Orihime's chest issue I typed in here is an issue I myself had in real life (I'm a 34 C and other females have always treated me like crap for it saying that I had to be a 'whore' because of it or that my clothes, even if they were oversized t-shirts, were 'flaunting' them. Some people are just jealous idiots! Now that I'm older, I realize that only envy makes people talk such trash)

**nypsy: **I try to remain neutral, but I do tend to like all Orihime-centrics, no matter who she's paired with (though I prefer Ulqui/Hime above all. I have thing for having her with Hollows). And you're right. I've always thought that the only push Ichigo needs is a very hard wake-up call regarding her. We all know she's shy and he's oblivious. If he were to be made aware of her very directly (like having her falling on him naked. LOL), then he'd finally see her and get his butt in gear. =) **Summer Eclair:** Thanks! **himelove22: **Yeah. Ichigo getting embarassed is always funny to me. (I'm a sadistic person) **FaNdOm BiTcHsLaP: **Skelle, baby, get EASIER pennames! And of course Hime was going to get the best reaction out of poor Ichi! Get ready to see him go through more shameful moments! I might go overboard because I'm a pervert and like seeing Ichigo so... uncomfortable. Hehehehe... TTYL **SomeoneWhoLikesBleach: **I hope that doesn't mean that you aren't going to follow it! I want to continue torturing Ichi and I want you to giggle at him! Okay, I'm calm now. LMAO (Personally, I think Ichigo needs to get slapped around until he sees Ori's love for him *evil scheming look*) **Aiasaka: **Thanks! And Ichi will be in way over his head, but he'll get things right eventually. I INTEND on it. *still wearing evil look* **Ghost2119: **Glad you liked it! I used to only stick to Ichi/Ruki until I started 'expanding'. Now I like soooo many pairings it isn't funny. **CharNinjaLOL: **Awesomeness! **Child of the Ashes: **Yes. Ichigo stressing out and in pain is like a drug to me. I'm weird. Don't listen to me! Glad you've enjoyed it. **StarkFlake000: **I am! It's been awhile since I've written comedy/romance (I'm a 'dark writer' type), so this is a welcome breather. Hope you continue liking this! **Angelina Cat: **I think Ichigo wanting to die because of his 'idle eyes' was the best part. I giggled while writing that part. And about 'Rejection'. *shudders in delight* Its an excerpt from a longer Hichi/Hime fic of mine called 'Reflection' (way too 'spicy' for this site). My guiltiest pleasure! So happy to see another fan of it! **TheCatWithTheHat: **LOL I had thought of that when I wrote the first chapter. Poor Orihime doesn't have a clue about why Ichigo is so weird around her. She doesn't know her effect on the opposite sex because she's innocent and thinks only good of people (even if they're mean to her). Prepare yourself for plenty of lulz!


End file.
